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HB is my honey bad

I placed bee escapes on two of my hives to take honey. I had planned on taking the supers the next afternoon but we had rain and storms for the next two days. So on day three I took my supers off and noticed a couple of hive beetles but really did not think anything about just seeing 2 beetles. I assumed it was due to the bees not being there to keep them run out. I extracted my honey that afternoon, but did not get my supers put back on the hives for another two days due to rain and storms again. When I went to get the supers to put back on the hives I noticed a few larva on the comb which I am sure are hive beetle larva. I have 8 strong hives and have never seen a hive beetle before this.
My question is what about my honey? Is it OK. I have read that honey with hive beetles could be contaminated and should not be used for human consumption. Honey smells fine, and I saw no comb damage when uncapping.

Re: HB is my honey bad

I would melt the cappings immediately, put the supers back on to let the bees clean them up. Two beetles is as bad as we ever see here in CT. I wouln't worry about the honey. Other beekeepers with more beetle experience than me might have more info. I'm just glad we dont have that problem!

Re: HB is my honey bad

Never heard of SHB contaminating honey, But not shure about it since if I have a slime out I hose it out and let the bees rob it. But as long as the honey you extracted was not slimed and you only saw a few SHB you are fine. As Adam said put the suppers back on asap for the bees to clean up are if there is any pollen in the suppers the SHB will slime them and then you will have to spray them with water to get the bees to even look at them.
@ Adam If anyone buys bees from down south or migrates there are SHB in the state. Your local area maybe lucky and not have any. Last year I tried to use a bait hive in the late fall to bait in SHB and then the frost kills them, works well going to try again this year but not seeing to many of those buggers since used drench in the yards. And I have a few hives that will clean up SHB slime and kill the beetles, I love watching them chase one down and flip it over and rip its legs off same bees will chase mites to.

Re: HB is my honey bad

Originally Posted by Beetrucker74

Never heard of SHB contaminating honey, But not shure about it since if I have a slime out I hose it out and let the bees rob it. But as long as the honey you extracted was not slimed and you only saw a few SHB you are fine. As Adam said put the suppers back on asap for the bees to clean up are if there is any pollen in the suppers the SHB will slime them and then you will have to spray them with water to get the bees to even look at them.
@ Adam If anyone buys bees from down south or migrates there are SHB in the state. Your local area maybe lucky and not have any. Last year I tried to use a bait hive in the late fall to bait in SHB and then the frost kills them, works well going to try again this year but not seeing to many of those buggers since used drench in the yards. And I have a few hives that will clean up SHB slime and kill the beetles, I love watching them chase one down and flip it over and rip its legs off same bees will chase mites to.

I never said that we dont have them. I meant that they never get established in any numbers. Our New England winters are too long and too severe for them to survive. In addition, our soils generally aren't sandy enough for them to pupate in. I bring 1000 packages up from Georgia each spring so gaurantee that some beetles come up with them. Just greatfull that they dont make it over winter.